hassan ruvakuki

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Last week, South
Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei warned reporters in the capital, Juba, not to interview the opposition
or face possible arrest or expulsion from the country. According to the
minister, a lawyer by profession, broadcast interviews with rebels by local
media are considered "hostile propaganda" and "in conflict with the law."

Burundi's climate of press freedom deteriorated under President Pierre Nkurunziza in 2013. In June, the president signed into law a severely restrictive bill that forces journalists to reveal sources and places heavy fines and prison sentences on coverage the government considers detrimental to state security or the local economy. In April, CPJ wrote an open letter to the president, calling the law an "affront to the Burundi Constitution," and highlighting specific articles especially restrictive for journalists. Several journalists were attacked over the year, some by police officers attempting to quell a weekly protest by reporters calling for the release of their imprisoned colleague, Bonesha FM correspondent Hassan Ruvakuki. In March, Ruvakuki was released from prison with no explanation. He had been sentenced to prison in November 2011 for "participating with a criminal group" and spent 463 days in jail.

Nairobi, March 6, 2013--Burundian authorities today released Hassan Ruvakuki, a reporter who has been imprisoned for 16 monthson charges related to his interview with a rebel leader. The circumstances of the release were not immediately clear, and the Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities to vacate Ruvakuki's conviction and prison sentence.

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News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, February 2013

CPJ launches 2013 edition of Attacks on the Press

An unprecedented rise in the number of
journalists killed and imprisoned in the past year coupled with restrictive
legislation and state censorship is jeopardizing independent reporting in many
countries, according to Attacks on the
Press,
CPJ's yearly assessment of global press freedom released on February 14.

Launched at a live-streamed press conference at the U.N.
Headquarters in New York, CPJ's flagship publication was covered by media around
the world, including The New York Times and the U.K.'s Guardian. The newest edition of Attacks
also features CPJ's new Risk List, which
identifies the 10 places where the organization documented the most significant
downward trends in 2012.

On Tuesday, Burundi's press corps did what it has done for
the past three weeks: protest
the imprisonment of one of its own. Hassan Ruvakuki is a
reporter jailed since November 28, 2011 on anti-state charges; for the first
time, the journalists wore white t-shirts showing Ruvakuki in his green prison
uniform. But this time, the reaction by police caught journalists by surprise.